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Continued from page 3

Oskar Metsavaht

$400 million

Brazil/Sportswear

Sports medicine doctor and avid outdoor enthusiast designed a jacket for a mountain trek in the mid-1980s. The response was so good that a few years later he quit his profession to create high-end sportswear inspired by his love for snowboarding and surfing. His Osklen brand now has 64 stores in Brazil and 9 abroad. It is in talks to sell a stake to LVMH, PPR or a Brazilian retailer.

Daniel Ek

$300 million

Sweden/Spotify

The “most important man in music” has built a digital service that’s as easy to use as iTunes, as social as Facebook and as cheap as piracy (as in free). The software programmer and skilled musician launched Spotify in Europe in 2008 and debuted the product in the U.S. last summer. His billionaire backers include Sean Parker, Li Ka-shing and Yuri Milner. Revenue estimates place Spotify’s value near $2 billion, making Ek worth $300 million on paper—a number likely to climb the charts if use continues to soar.

Strive Masiyiwa

$285 million

Zimbabwe/Telecom

His Econet Wireless serves about 10 million subscribers in countries such as Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Burundi and Rwanda. He recently launched the Home Power Station, a solar-powered device that provides inexpensive energy to rural areas. A devout Christian, he tithes 10% of his annual income to his church and personally pays the school fees for over 22,000 Zimbabwean orphans.

Sheryl Sandberg

Under $100 million

U.S. /Internet

One of the most powerful women in Silicon Valley and considered the glue that holds Facebook together, the social networking site’s COO has a lot to gain once her company has its IPO this year. Based on financial filings, her personal net worth is less than $100 million, but it could soar if and when the restricted stock units vest and Facebook’s post-IPO stock price pops, as some analysts expect. The Harvard M.B.A. and former chief of staff at the U.S. Treasury Department was previously a vice president at Google. She sits on the boards of Disney and Starbucks.